On the background of a data set of weekly sales and prices for three brands of coffee, this paper discusses various regression models and their relation to the multiplicative competitive-interaction model (the MCI model, see Cooper 1988, 1993) for market-shares. Emphasis is put on the interpretation of the parameters in relation to models for the total sales based on discrete choice models.
Key words and phrases. MCI model, discrete choice model, market-shares, price elasitcity, regression model.

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We study the optimal regulation of banking groups ("banks”), taking both minimum capital requirements and legal structure into account. A bank can set up either as one legal unit facing limited liability jointly (branch structure) or as a bank holding company with subsidiaries (subsidiary structure). Banks are exposed to risk from their unobservable asset choices and to exogenous risk from their environment. We show that banks with branches are more prudent in normal times than banks with subsidiaries, but are also less prudent when problems arise. A regulator that observes banks’ exogenous risk should optimally determine both capital requirements and legal structure. If the exogenous risk is private information to banks, it can be optimal to screen banks according to risk by setting capital requirements appropriately, and letting banks choose their legal structure.

This paper examines the relation between policies concerning Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) and philosophical moral theories. The objective is to determine which
moral theories form the basis for CSR policies. Are they based on ethical egoism,
libertarianism, utilitarianism or some kind of common-sense morality? To address this issue,
I conducted an empirical investigation examining the relation between moral theories and
CSR policies, in companies engaged in CSR. Based on the empirical data I collected, I start by
suggesting some normative arguments used by the respondents. Secondly, I suggest that
these moral arguments implicitly rely on some specific moral principles, which I
characterise. Thirdly, on the basis of these moral principles, I suggest the moral theories
upon which the CSR policies are built. Previous empirical studies examining the relation
between philosophical moral theories and the ethical content of business activities have
mainly concentrated on the ethical decision-making of managers. Some of the most
prominent investigations in that regard propose that managers mainly act in accordance
with utilitarian moral theory (Fritzsche and Becker, 1984; Premeaux and Mony, 1993;
Premeaux, 2004). I conclude that CSR policies are not based on utilitarian thinking, but
instead on some kind of common-sense morality. The ethical foundation of companies
engaged in CSR thus does not mirror the ethical foundation of managers.

We show that taxation of rents may yield an intergenerational Pareto-improvement in a small open economy provided tax revenues are earmarked to reduce wage taxes. Previous literature has shown that rent taxation benefits current young and future generations, while we show that it also benefits the current old generation when the initially prevailing tax mix is sufficiently skewed towards wage taxation. Rent Taxes, Capitalization, Transitional Dynamics, Labor Supply, Asset Prices.

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The classical ideals of science can be seen as an example of the drive towards rationalisation in modern capitalistic societies. It is a specialized activity, based on sine ira et studio, modernism and a production orientation. Based on a case - the Holistic Learning Centre [name changed] situated in Copenhagen - we argue that a post-rational form of research activity is emerging which revert these features. We term this new type of research "enchanted research", "sciencetainment" and "Mode2-b research". The factors that facilitate this development include the boring style of conventional research, growing competition for research funds, more project funding compared to institutional funding and a demand for accountability. Countervailing forces also exist, however.

Although biotech start-ups fail or succeed based on their research few attempts have been made to examine if and how they strategize in this core of their activity. Popular views on Dedicated Biotech Firms (DBFs) see the inherent uncertainty of research as defying notions of strategizing, directing instead the attention to the quality of their science, or the roles of boards, management, and collaborative networks etc. Using a unique comprehensive dataset on Danish and Swedish biotech start-ups in drug discovery this paper analyzes their research strategies. Adopting a Simonean point of departure we develop a contingency view on complex problem solving which structures the argument into three steps:
1) Characterising the problem architectures addressed by different types of DBFs;
2) Testing and confirming that DBFs form requisite research strategies, by which we refer to problem solving approaches developed as congruent responses to problem architectures;
3) Testing and confirming that financial valuation of firms is driven by achievements conforming to requisite research strategies. These strategies, in turn, require careful combination of multiple dimensions of research.
Findings demonstrate that Shonhoovens classical argument that "strategy matters" is valid not only for the larger high-tech firms covered by her study, but also for small research-based start-ups operating at the very well springs of knowledge where science directly interacts with technologies. Even though a lot more research is needed along these lines, these findings offer new implications for the understanding, management, and financing of these firms.
JEL Codes: L25, L65, O32

Although biotech start-ups fail or succeed based on their research few attempts have been made to examine if and how they strategize in this core of their activity. Popular views on Dedicated Biotech Firms (DBFs) see the inherent uncertainty of research as defying notions of strategizing, directing instead the attention to the quality of their science, or the roles of boards, management, and collaborative networks etc.
Using a unique comprehensive dataset on Danish and Swedish biotech start-ups in drug discovery this paper analyzes their research strategies. Adopting a Simonean point of departure we develop a contingency view on complex problem solving which structures the argument into three steps:
1) Characterising the problem architectures addressed by different types of DBFs;
2) Testing and confirming that DBFs form requisite research strategies, by which we refer to problem solving approaches developed as congruent responses to problem architectures;
3) Testing and confirming that financial valuation of firms is driven by achievements conforming to requisite research strategies. These strategies, in turn, require careful combination of multiple dimensions of research.
Findings demonstrate that Shonhoovens classical argument that “strategy matters” is valid not only for the larger high-tech firms covered by her study, but also for small research-based start-ups operating at the very well springs of knowledge where science directly interacts with technologies. Even though a lot more research is needed along these lines, these findings offer new implications for the understanding, management, and financing of these firms.

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Sustainable fashion in all its guises, has been the preoccupation of many a recent campaign, article,
research and initiative. Not only is the industry increasingly aware of the need to cut its environmental
impact, but also consumers and consumer organisations are putting pressures on various parts of the
supply chain to comply with environmental and ethical practices. Yet, from a management
perspective, the economic impact of these demands can lead to conflicting priorities. In particular, the
basic marketing concept of product lifecycle indicates the product’s gradual diminishing monetary
returns through time.
In this paper we will be analysing a case of a refashioning of products that are either obsolete or
unsalable and making a commercially viable collection. In 2008 MCM collaborated with the London
College of Fashion to reuse, recycle and redesign a number of end-of-line, dated handbags into new
objects of desire with a new lifecycle. This case will form a basis of analysing the validity of such a
product re-development tactic for other luxury brands.
The paper will provides a blueprint for future re-fashioning initiatives by reflecting on the value
inherent in the process for both users and firms alike. The paper contributes to the understanding of
recycling and sustainable fashion from a theoretical perspective that links together the product
lifecycle, co-creation and value creation theories. The main theoretical implication of the work
concerns the framing of recycling and refashioning with the context of those linked
concepts.According to this contribution, refashioning can enable value creation from obsolete
products, especially if a co-design with consumers or users forms part of the proposition.
On the managerial side, this study recognisees the economic drivers of business and highlights the
commercial, not only environmental and societal benefits of recycling within the luxury sector. The
recycled products stand in direct opposition to counterfeiting, which is evident in the uniqueness for
refashioned products leading to the development of new objects of desire.

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Inderstanding the Dual Processes of the Human Mind and Human Interaction in Strategy Making

Juul Andersen, Torben; Fredens, Kjeld(Frederiksberg, 2013)

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Abstract:

Modern cognitive science identifies a dynamic system of interacting fast and slow processes as essential to human thinking. The fast system observes and reacts to environmental stimuli and the slow system interprets events and reasons about future actions. When the fast and slow processes interact they form a dynamic system that enables individuals to respond effectively to changing conditions. We project this dynamic perspective onto human interaction in organizations where observations and experiential insights gained by employees and operating managers are linked to forward-looking planning considerations that take place around the top-management echelons. This identifies the responsive organization that is able to observe and react to frequent and often abrupt environmental changes and thereby adapt organizational activities to the changing reality.

Using a stochastic overlapping generations model with endogenous labour supply, this paper studies the design and performance of a policy rule for the retirement age in response to fertility and mortality shocks. Two main results are derived: First, to oset a change in the labour force the retirement age should adjust more than proportionally to the fertility change and, second, to be socially desirable the retirement age should be indexed less than proportionally to changes in life expectancy.

The returns to education in self-employment are addressed in four
different specifications of the relationship between log income and
years of schooling. The specifications range from a standard Mincer
equation with a constant percentage increase in income to an additional
year of schooling to the most flexible specification with dummy
variables for the different number of years of schooling split into different
types of education. Based on the more flexible specifications,
important non-linearities and heterogeneity in the returns to education
in self-employment are found. These results are robust across
different estimation methods: OLS; Heckit correction models to handle
sample selection; and IV to deal with the potential endogeneity of years of schooling. Moreover, the results are insensitive to the use
of different sample years, different definitions of self-employment, and
different income measures for the self-employed.

The aim of this paper is to study the consequences of rolling out a global corporate culture on a multinational company in order to streamline modes of communication between headquarter and local offices across different host markets in an attempt to optimise the functionality of the organisation per se. Our key focus in this connection is to understand how employees in the Danish shipping company Maersk Line’s headquarter in Copenhagen as well as in three local offices in Shanghai, Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur ‘read’ and respond towards such an optimisation process. We focus in particular on how employees, based on their ‘reading’ of this process, try to make sense of it in order to construct personal strategies as guidelines for how to navigating the organization to their own and the company’s advantage. The key question to research in this context is what elements enters into employees personal strategies when navigating a multinational organization? To answer this question we employ a phenomenological approach as a way of exploring the relationship between organizational changes and employers’ response towards them. We argue that single case studies provides us with the capability of providing deep insight into the inner workings of a multinational organisation. Furthermore, such kind of studies shows how various societal factors within a host market impact on the functionality of employees in local offices as well as on the relationship between the latter and headquarter.

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In this paper, we derive the dynamics and assess the economic value of currency speculation by
formalizing the concept of a trader inaction range. We show that exchange rate returns comprise
a time-varying risk-premium and that uncovered interest parity (UIP) holds in a speculative sense.
The often-cited `forward bias puzzle' originates from the omission of the risk-premium in standard
UIP tests. Consistent with its popularity among market professionals, the carry-trade strategy can
be rationalized as it systematically collects risk-premia and generates economic value when applied
in multi-currency portfolios.

Discrete choice experiments are widely used in relation to health
care. A stream of recent literature therefore aims at testing the validity
of the underlying preference axioms of completeness and transitivity,
and detecting other preference phenomena such as unstability, learn-
ing/tiredness effects, ordering effects, dominance, etc. Unfortunately
there seems to be some confusion about what is actually being tested,
and the link between the statistical tests performed and the relevant
underlying model of respondent behaviour has not been explored in
this literature. The present paper tries to clarify the notions involved
and discuss what can be tested in a general frequency of choice frame-
work and more specifically in a random utility model.